Game: FC Dallas vs Colorado Rapids Date: Saturday, March 23rd Time: 4:45 PM [CST] Location: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas, United States of America Weather Forecast: Thunderstorms; H 61, L 58 Competition: Major League Soccer Opponent's Recent Form: D-L-D Live TV: KSTR-49 (UniMas) [DFW] | UniMas [USA] | Twitter [USA] | DAZN [Canada] Radio: FCDallas.com/radio [English] | KFLC 1270 AM La Voz del Pueblo [Spanish]
I bought my taco shirt! Looks like most of the rain should be in the morning, ahead of gametime. It will be interesting to see this lineup with no Gruezo and no Acosta (our new Acosta) and how they do. Play the babies!!!
Good win today with a very young squad. End to end action. Wet pitch. Pulled it out after giving up an unfortunate equalizer. Cobra and Roberts get their MLS debuts.
By my count, this match featured 7 FC Dallas homegrown players (Gonzalez, Cannon, Cerrillo, Pomykal, Ferreira, Roberts, Acosta). Wonder if that's a record. I know FC Dallas fielded six homegrown players at the same time last summer, which they didn't do this time since Roberts came on for Ferreira. Loved the energy right from the outset. Put Colorado under a lot of early pressure that unfortunately didn't lead to a goal. The Rapids got hold of the match midway through the first half, but the Barrios goal gave Dallas a deserved lead going into the break. Badji was played wide, and Ferreira started up top. Badji missed a sitter, which won't help his case to return to the striker role. Wasn't too impressed with him on the wing, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Mosquera return to the lineup next match.
Actually, I just read that RSL started 6 homegrown players, which set an MLS record, and had a 7th come off the bench. So at best the 7 FC Dallas HGs at Toyota Stadium matches a record.
Badji was OK as holdup guy and winning headers on both ends of the field, but the lack of scoring and chances while he's up top is frustrating. I DVR'd the game and watched it after I got home from the game. FCD's players and staff really looked irritated when Badji missed the sitter. Badji and Ferreira each played about 78 minutes, combining for 3 shots, 1 of those on goal. The Cobra played 12 minutes, many when FCD were just trying to close out the game and had 1 shot on goal which forced a good save from Tim Howard which created the rebound for Hollingshead to score the second goal. Not a good argument statistically (due to small sample size), but I think Cobra and Thomas Roberts (who played the ball to Cobra) earned some more PT.
I'm wondering what's happened to Servania. He was really good for the U20's and looked good in pre-season. He got injured but must be healed up from that. I wonder if like Hayes in the first game Luchi trying for a midfield balance and with Aranguiz and Pomykal in two spots the most defensive mid left got the last spot. Or if Servania just isn't as good as the others. According to Bshredder if Servania doesn't start getting some minutes he won't be at the U20 World Cup.
I attended this one in person in the spitting rain, and I got my taco jersey to boot! The guys looked a little bit like a bunch of rookies for long stretches, but they were clearly the better team all game. That bodes well for the future as well as the present if these guys can gel as a group and the young players can continue to perform at a high level.
This is an underrated take. Playing young players with lots of upside likely means that the team will keep improving.